SMC Infrastructure has already completed equipping all its active toll gates with artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras, which will pave the way for barrier-less toll plazas across its expressway network.
San Miguel Corporation (SMC) chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang said that, in line with government directives, the company’s infrastructure arm has already installed 522 ALPR cameras at all its toll plazas and gantries across the 220-km expressway network it operates.
The special cameras are designed to further improve vehicle throughput by supporting the existing Autosweep radio frequency identification (RFID) electronic toll collection system.
“All of our toll plazas and gantries are equipped with ALPR cameras, which support our RFID antennas, which read the account information of motorists. With help from artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, our ALPR cameras cross-match motorist information from RFID tags to ensure customer data is accurate, and correct toll is debited from motorists’ Autosweep wallets,” explained Ang.
“From this point on, all our new expressway projects will include ALPR cameras in their design.”
Ang furthered that SMC Infra’s Autosweep team had long been working to improve the existing system.
“We credit our hardworking software engineers and developers who have continued to refine our Autosweep system. Our AI-powered Autosweep is proof that our Filipino software developers and engineers can excel anywhere, given the right opportunity and environment for them to create groundbreaking IT solutions,” he added.
Ang said that the ALPR cameras will serve as a backup for validation across SMC’s expressway network, as RFID antennas and tags will remain as the primary means to collect toll from motorists.
With the new system in place, each lane at toll plazas across SMC’s 220-km expressway network will have both an ALPR camera and an RFID scanner, which will start reading vehicle information some distance away.
Vehicle information will then be sent to servers where AI will cross-match the information — ensuring accuracy and enabling faster throughput.
Through its subsidiaries, SMC Infrastructure holds concessions to operate and maintain tollways such as the Skyway System and NAIA Expressway in Metro Manila; SLEX and STAR Tollway in the Calabarzon Region, and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) which connects Central and Northern Luzon and serves as the gateway to the Cordillera Administrative Region.
